deepundergroundpoetry.com
Navy Skin
My dad found his ocean. My father has been proudly serving in the United States Navy for over thirty years.
He’s only ever had, only ever wanted the one job. He is what his job is and he’s never wanted to be anything else.
But he’ll be retiring soon.
Hanging up his navy skin, and I don’t know what color he will be underneath it.
I think he will still be the same. His years wearing the clothes of his job have stained his skin in the same pattern and though he can turn in his uniform and give his last salute, his bones will still carry the badges and his feet will still feel the shifting of oceans below him.
But when what you have been for years and years is no longer something you can claim, something to sink into and hide away, a warmth and familiarity to cover yourself in when the skin of your face feels too thin, when all of that security is gone, what is left of what you were?
Who are you when who you were is no longer yours?
Can you be the same? If you give so much of yourself away, do you get it back years later, or is it gone, forfeit to the person you are now.
Time and space have a funny way of not existing except in their absence.
You never know what you aren’t, you only know what you were.
He’s only ever had, only ever wanted the one job. He is what his job is and he’s never wanted to be anything else.
But he’ll be retiring soon.
Hanging up his navy skin, and I don’t know what color he will be underneath it.
I think he will still be the same. His years wearing the clothes of his job have stained his skin in the same pattern and though he can turn in his uniform and give his last salute, his bones will still carry the badges and his feet will still feel the shifting of oceans below him.
But when what you have been for years and years is no longer something you can claim, something to sink into and hide away, a warmth and familiarity to cover yourself in when the skin of your face feels too thin, when all of that security is gone, what is left of what you were?
Who are you when who you were is no longer yours?
Can you be the same? If you give so much of yourself away, do you get it back years later, or is it gone, forfeit to the person you are now.
Time and space have a funny way of not existing except in their absence.
You never know what you aren’t, you only know what you were.
Published 25th Jun 2015
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25th Jun 2015 8:39pm
"Time and space have a funny way of not existing except in their absence.
You never know what you aren’t, you only know what you were."
Wonderfully expressed. My father was Air Force/20 years. So much of this sounds the bomb alert. I'm not sure he ever rediscovered who he was; definitely knew what he wasn't; and only ever dreamed of being who he once was before the milk of life curdled in the broken fridge. You brought it all home in this.
You never know what you aren’t, you only know what you were."
Wonderfully expressed. My father was Air Force/20 years. So much of this sounds the bomb alert. I'm not sure he ever rediscovered who he was; definitely knew what he wasn't; and only ever dreamed of being who he once was before the milk of life curdled in the broken fridge. You brought it all home in this.
25th Jun 2015 9:30pm
Thank you so much! As a military brat as well, I'm sure you can appreciate how much their service can come to define us, their dependents. My father is retiring, yes, but I'm also coming to the point where my life will no longer be categorized by my parents, and thusly my father's service. It's strange to think that within the next five years, naval will no longer be a descriptor for me
Yes! And while the traveling may stop and the roots set in, the term military brat will ALWAYS apply! (And I always wondered about why... we have it though.)
